Happy Thanksgiving and here come the holidays...

We had a really beautiful Thanksgiving dinner here at home this year. It was my turn to cook for us and the Newsom's, so I spent the few days before Thanksgiving prepping everything for our meal. In addition to our 4 and the Newsom's 4, Amy's mom Rebecca was in town with her boyfriend Riley and his 2 kids Montanna and Cody, so we had a total of 12 for dinner. Here's what the menu looked like:

A Brined 22 lb. Turkey
Italian Sausage Stuffing
Fried Okra
Deviled Eggs
Green Bean Casserole
Sweet Potato Casserole
Mashed Potatoes
Homemade Pecan Pie
Banana Creme Pie
Ultimate Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

After dinner and dessert, Kevin made a nice warm fire in the fire pit out in the back yard. That night, everyone went to bed with full bellies!

Instead of heading out to tackle Christmas shopping at 12am like we did the last few years, Amy and I decided it would be better to catch a couple z's first. We planned to meet at 5am and head out then, but she texted me at 3:00 am saying "I'm awake and gonna head to Walmart, Wanna go?" I texted her right back since I was laying in bed awake like a kid on Christmas Eve. I got up, got dressed, and picked her up by 3:30! I got ALL of my shopping DONE and was home by noon! Once home, I showered up and Kevin, the kids, and I headed over to the Newsom's for some LSU/Arkanasas football....we showed up bearing leftovers.

On Saturday, we ran out and picked up a $40 fake Christmas tree at Walmart. We decided to go light on the Christmas decorations this year since we will be in FL for almost 2 weeks before Christmas. We spent the evening watching "Christmas Vacation" and decorating the tree. Both boys loved going through their boxes of ornaments they have collected over the past years. Each year I give them both a new ornament. I try to give them one that reflects either something they did or loved for that year. This year Harrison got a fishing lure ornament that I bought for him on our vacation to Idaho. I chose this because of the "big" fishing trip he went on with Kevin while we were there. Emerson's ornament this year was figurines from a show that he loves called Phineas and Ferb. It has Phineas and Ferb in a little roller coaster car...very cute. They both loved decorating the tree so much that Emerson was asking to decorate some more the next morning! I have a feeling this is going to be another amazing Christmas season!